Sunday, December 28, 2008

Soft Coal Hard Choices or Estimation and Inference in Econometrics

Soft Coal, Hard Choices: The Economic Welfare of Bituminous Coal Miners, 1890-1930

Author: Price V Fishback

Did miners really owe their souls to the company store? Did they receive lower pay than in other jobs, despite the constant danger they faced? Was the quality of life in mining towns uniformly dismal? Soft Coal, Hard Choices answers these and other questions. The book contradicts many myths using evidence ranging from company records to oral histories to statistics collected by state and federal governments. While most studies of labor in the coal industry focus on union struggles, Fishback discloses the beneficial impact of competition among employers for labor. He further examines the impact of legal environment and the development of institutions like company towns. Careful analysis using economic theory and statistics reveals numerous insights about the welfare of coal miners in the early 1900s. Unions helped miners obtain higher wages, but so did competition among employers. Employers were unable to exploit local and housing monopolies because the miners had the option of moving from town to town. Workers choosing between mining and other jobs faced a hard choice between similar alternatives. High hourly earnings and freedom from close supervision in mining helped compensate miners for accepting more risk of accidents and layoffs. The combination of narrative and analysis in Soft Coal, Hard Choices will interest historians, economists, and the general reader alike.



Table of Contents:
1.The Miners' Choices: Voice or Exit3
2.The Analytical Framework11
The Implications of Competition11
The Impact of Collective Action and Unions14
Summary of Implications16
3.The Coal Labor Market, 1890-193019
Long-term Trends in the Coal Product Market19
Exercising Voice Through the Union23
Competition Among Employers for Labor25
The Miners' Mobility27
The Miners' Information31
Summary35
4.Working in a Coal Mine42
Tonnage Men42
Daymen45
Management47
Rewards in the Occupational Hierarchy49
5.Methods of Wage Payment60
Piece Rates, Time Rates, and Transactions Costs60
Piece Rates and Quality Control65
Piece Rates and Variation in Mine Conditions68
Summary73
6.Dig Sixteen Tons and What Did You Get? Earnings79
Why Become a Miner? High Hourly Earnings80
Annual Earnings83
The Worker's Choice84
Trends in Real Earnings88
Regional Comparisons Within Coal Mining91
Summary97
7.Death's Taken a Mighty Toll for Coal, Coal, Coal102
The Extent and Nature of Coal Accidents102
Wages and Accident Rates108
Unions and Safety111
Government Regulation of Safety112
Changes in Liability Laws118
Compensation and Accident Prevention120
Summary125
8.Did Coal Miners "Owe Their Souls to the Company Store"?133
The Limits on Store Monopoly134
Why Did Companies Own Stores?135
Store Prices136
Were Miners Forced to Buy at the Store?141
Conclusions147
9.The Company Town152
The Nature of Company Housing152
Why Did Companies Own Housing?155
Monopoly Ownership?155
The "Necessity" of Company Ownership157
A Device to Prevent Collective Action159
Model Towns161
Sanitation in Coal Towns During the 1920s161
Sanitation in Company Towns163
Sanitation in Company versus Independent Towns164
Conclusions165
10.Coal Mines as Melting Pots171
The Geographic Location of Blacks and Immigrants172
The Limited Nature of Discrimination in West Virginia176
Wage Rates and Earnings176
Differences in Workplace Safety178
Positioning in the Job Hierarchy179
The Impact of Competition on Segregated Schools184
Housing Segregation186
Segregation Across Mines188
Black Workers in Alabama190
Black Workers and the UMWA190
Summary191
11.What Did Miners Gain from Strikes?198
Strike Activity in Bituminous Coal Mining199
Differences in Strike Activity Within the Coal Industry203
The Pecuniary Gains and Losses from Strikes205
Violence During Strikes212
Conclusions215
12.Conclusions221
Appendix ACalculating Earnings for Workers in Coal Mining and Manufacturing225
Annual Earnings225
Hourly Earnings226
Appendix BSources of Data for Panel of Twenty-three Coal States from 1901 to 1930234
Accident Rates234
Coal Prices, Technological Variables, Strikes, Union Strength, and Mine Size235
Wage Rates236
Workers' Compensation Legislation237
State Mining Legislation and Enforcement238
Appendix CEstimating the Relationship Between Wages and Accident Rates242
Appendix DA Theoretical Model of Accident Prevention by Miners and Employers250
The Representative Miner251
The Operator253
Combining the Results254
Appendix EMeasuring Segregation in Job Hierarchies256
Appendix FAn Empirical Test of the Influence of Coal Companies on Equalizing Black and White Schools in West Virginia262
Appendix GPiece Rate Regressions for West Virginia Counties266
Index271

Books about: Perfect Mix or Art of American Indian Cooking

Estimation and Inference in Econometrics

Author: Russell Davidson

Offering a unifying theoretical perspective not readily available in any other text, this innovative book uses simple geometrical arguments to develop students' intuitive understanding of basic and advanced topics in econometrics, emphasizing throughout the practical applications of modern theory and nonlinear techniques of estimation.



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